Mayo's contract details

[BradyManny]

That is not true. I think Willis is the best LB in the league, but Mayo is in his company. What seperates Willis from the rest, is his sideline to sideline speed. Willis also has the luxery of playing in a one gap 3-4 that allows him to blitz and get into the backfield, something Mayo rarely gets to do.

Willis and Mayo are two great linebackers playing in two different systems that require them to do two different things and they both do it a very high level.

I have to separate the two. Willis is a beast. And yes, system allows him to be. Mayo has shown flashes of greatness, but overall his play lands between good & very good. We have a lot of variety defensively, and some allow Mayo more flexibility than others, but in no set is he an absolutely elite player like Willis.

Again - it's not a knock on a guy to say he's not the best at his position. But Mayo is getting pretty much paid that way now, or at least once the back end of this deal kicks in.

And the reason is, they valued his leadership & intangibles when making the deal.

 

[JackBauer]

I think that kind of money should be reserved for a linebacker that consistantly shoots through the gaps and makes impactfull hits and tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage, can pass defend, blitz etc. Again I like mayo but I'm not impressed with a kazzillion tackles all 4+ yards down the field. Guys like Lewis, Willis, beason, Villmer consistantly make impactful plays for stops and or negative or no yardage. Its either a crappy scheme or just a solid, but not premier Mayo. Take your pick

Mayo is better than all of those save Willis.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Congratulations to him. He's well worth the money, and I'm thrilled he'll be a Patriot for the foreseeable future.

Agreed. I have no problem with this kind of cash outlay for Mayo. He may not have the stats that Willis, Urlacher or Lewis have but I do believe that will come as Mayo is entering his prime. BTW if I'm not mistaken, Willis' guaranteed $ is 2m more than Mayo.

Clearly BB sees Mayo as an incredibly productive, valuable and versatile leader of this defense.

The Pats make good financial decisions more often than not. I can't think of too many cases with the exception of Branch in 06, AD in 07 when big financial decisions backfired in a major way (cap, production, etc.). Maybe Seymour in 09 but who knows..

 

[ALP]

too much....no questions asked

10mil/year is too much for what he has done since coming into the league

should have been a very good amount, but this is WAY overboard

to me this is hard to understand....we NEVER overpay a guy, and now we just did

is wilfork making less than him? i think so, and thats not right because wilfork SHOULD be making more

and its an extension, with still a year in his original deal...which means we should have been able to get this done w/ less money/year

what the hell has happened to the FO???? i understand the cap argument, but what? its expected to increase 50% in the next two years????

this deal has me like this

 

[BradyManny]

Mayo is better than all of those save Willis.

I hate Ray Lewis, but there's no way that Mayo is better than him even with Lewis in his aged form. Sunday nite's game excluded.

 

[JackBauer]

we NEVER overpay a guy

Bwahaha. You sure about that one?

 

[JackBauer]

I hate Ray Lewis, but there's no way that Mayo is better than him even with Lewis in his aged form. Sunday nite's game excluded.

Lewis has an argument for GOAT, but at this point Mayo's better. My opinion, of course.

I do think the successive MCL injuries have really dampened some people's view of him around here.

 

[signbabybrady]

Excellent, Excellent re-sign and the contract seems to be pretty fair too.

Mayo gets his security, it gets added to the end of his original deal, and based on the cap going up it actually is pretty fair money.

To me the biggest problem the last few years has been the inexperience at LB including Mayo. We went from long time vets like Willy, Vrabel, Bruschi, Seau to our best guy being a rookie in Mayo and a bunch of wet behind the ears LBs. Now Mayo has experience and now he is locked up long term to make sure we dont give that back.

 

[mgcolby]

I think that kind of money should be reserved for a linebacker that consistantly shoots through the gaps and makes impactfull hits and tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage, can pass defend, blitz etc. Again I like mayo but I'm not impressed with a kazzillion tackles all 4+ yards down the field. Guys like Lewis, Willis, beason, Villmer consistantly make impactful plays for stops and or negative or no yardage. Its either a crappy scheme or just a solid, but not premier Mayo. Take your pick

It is the scheme and it is not crappy, just different and not set up for glitz and glamour especially from the middle backers. The inside backers in the two gap 3-4 do a lot of dirty work that the Lewis (who *****es when he has to actually shed a blocker), Willis etc.. don't have to do. And shooting the gap is great when it works, but when you guess wrong and the back beats you to the other gap, that was left vulnerable, and picks up a huge gain....well it doesn't look so good then. And they don't have a stat for that.

This year we are obviously playing more 4-3 and again LB's are not the pass rushers in that scheme. Its the edge guys (Carter, Anderson, Nink). In the 3-4 its typically the OLB rushing the QB and making the negative plays. The MLB's plug holes, shed the blocker and make the tackle unless they are blitzing, which again is seldom in the New England system.

 

[hlywoodjp]

Agreed. I have no problem with this kind of cash outlay for Mayo. He may not have the stats that Willis, Urlacher or Lewis have but I do believe that will come as Mayo is entering his prime. BTW if I'm not mistaken, Willis' guaranteed $ is 2m more than Mayo.

Clearly BB sees Mayo as an incredibly productive, valuable and versatile leader of this defense.

The Pats make good financial decisions more often than not. I can't think of too many cases with the exception of Branch in 06, AD in 07 when big financial decisions backfired in a major way (cap, production, etc.). Maybe Seymour in 09 but who knows..

Willis has a very complicated contract. I found a breakdown online that explained it well. (NFL Salary Cap Contract Breakdown: Patrick Willis - Niners Nation) We don't have any details of Mayo's contract, but it appears that he did very, very well.

 

[BradyManny]

Lewis has an argument for GOAT, but at this point Mayo's better. My opinion, of course.

I do think the successive MCL injuries have really dampened some people's view of him around here.

We'll agree to disagree re: Lewis. But I do agree about the MCL injuries. I think it's a factor to take into consideration.

To me, Mayo's best season was his injury free second season in '09. I still think his best game as a pro was the OT loss to the Jets at home that year. That's the kind of play we need every week from him though. With a solid DL in front of him, he should be able to be that kind of game changer. Though it's certainly possible that the rest of the LB core, with Spikes on the sidelines, is so poor against the run that it negates his abilities, to some extent.

 

[JackBauer]

To me, Mayo's best season was his injury free second season in '09. I still think his best game as a pro was the OT loss to the Jets at home that year. That's the kind of play we need every week from him though. With a solid DL in front of him, he should be able to be that kind of game changer. Though it's certainly possible that the rest of the LB core, with Spikes on the sidelines, is so poor against the run that it negates his abilities, to some extent.

Yup, that's the game I think of as well.

He appears to be healthy again so here's hoping he can display that talent again.

 

[hodgey]

It is the scheme and it is not crappy, just different and not set up for glitz and glamour especially from the middle backers. The inside backers in the two gap 3-4 do a lot of dirty work that the Lewis (who *****es when he has to actually shed a blocker), Willis etc.. don't have to do. And shooting the gap is great when it works, but when you guess wrong and the back beats you to the other gap, that was left vulnerable, and picks up a huge gain....well it doesn't look so good then. And they don't have a stat for that.

This year we are obviously playing more 4-3 and again LB's are not the pass rushers in that scheme. Its the edge guys (Carter, Anderson, Nink). In the 3-4 its typically the OLB rushing the QB and making the negative plays. The MLB's plug holes, shed the blocker and make the tackle unless they are blitzing, which again is seldom in the New England system.

C'mon man can we keep it real? It's a scheme that allows 400+ yards per game and 218 yards in a quarter to a crappy denver offense, along with 236 on the ground FCS and thats with us scoring 41. Without turnovers they might have rushed for 400 yards. We fans cant have it both ways. Either the system sucks or we have average to below average defensive players.

 

[RobertWeathers]

C'mon man can we keep it real? It's a scheme that allows 400+ yards per game and 218 yards in a quarter to a crappy denver offense, along with 236 on the ground FCS and thats with us scoring 41. Without turnovers they might have rushed for 400 yards. We fans cant have it both ways. Either the system sucks or we have average to below average defensive players.

It is absolutely both. BB put the 4-3 in because the new players and rooks didn't have the time to learn the 3-4. He also doesn't have Seymour, Mac, Law, Bru, Vrabel and Harrison on defense.

 

[JackBauer]

Either the system sucks or we have average to below average defensive players.

Is there a single poster on this board who doesn't admit the talent on defense is well below where it should be?

 

[mgcolby]

I hate Ray Lewis, but there's no way that Mayo is better than him even with Lewis in his aged form. Sunday nite's game excluded.

I don't know, their numbers are very similar and Lewis plays behind arguably the best DL in the NFL and plays in a 1 gap 3-4. Does he make more plays behind the LOS? Sure, but again the system allows him to. Obviously Lewis has 10 years of experience on the guy, but Ray has lost a step, IMO. Still one of the best but not quite what he was even just a couple of season's ago. I thought Lewis should have been the MVP Flacco's rookie season.

 

[mgcolby]

C'mon man can we keep it real? It's a scheme that allows 400+ yards per game and 218 yards in a quarter to a crappy denver offense, along with 236 on the ground FCS and thats with us scoring 41. Without turnovers they might have rushed for 400 yards. We fans cant have it both ways. Either the system sucks or we have average to below average defensive players.

We have a below average secondary and an average DL. So yeah we have some average to below average players, but Mayo is not one of them and if you fail to see or realize that then I don't know what else to say.

 

[RxJock1120]

Guys, you are looking at it from the wrong perspective. This is an EXTENSION to his current way below market contract, which he still has to play out. Mayo is making pennies this year and next year. (based on his caliber of player)

Now I agree with most of you that the deal pays elite money to a player just below elite level, but remember that the cap will increase and in 3 years this deal may not be nearly as rich as it seems today. Also, try not to forget that Mayo is only 25 years old. So considering his current rookie contract and this extension, we have locked up Mayo in the prime of his career.

With regards to Willis, he is in class all of his own in terms of an elite young MLB. I thought his deal was WAY below market. He is a top 5 defender in the league and is NOT paid like one. Especially when you consider that he is entering his prime.

Speaking strictly as a fan, it is so much better to overpay a great player, than to underpay one and risk him walking away.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think that kind of money should be reserved for a linebacker that consistantly shoots through the gaps and makes impactfull hits and tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage, can pass defend, blitz etc. Again I like mayo but I'm not impressed with a kazzillion tackles all 4+ yards down the field. Guys like Lewis, Willis, beason, Villmer consistantly make impactful plays for stops and or negative or no yardage. Its either a crappy scheme or just a solid, but not premier Mayo. Take your pick

I dont think you understand the difference in philosopies to make such assertions.

As a quick break down

1 gap is a penetrating type D predicating on crashing the line of scrimage and trying to disrupt the flow of the play before it can develope. This generally leads to more negative plays but also generally leads to a better success rate of plays called relying on the negative plays to kill the drives.

2 gap is a read and react type of D predicating on lane discipline and creating a wall just behind the line of scrimmage. This generally doesnt create us much negative plays but also creates less of success rate.

IMO its not so much about preventing big plays as it is minimizing the success of each play. Both styles will get beat their share of times. but in theory the team playing 1 gap will likely give up more yards per play not accounting for the negative plays with the negative plays creating a decent average where as the 2 gap may not have as many negative plays but will give up less on a play by play basis.

of course all this predicates on all being equal and that will never happen. I think I a 2 gap can get away with slightly less talent but needs to be smarter.

 

[BradyManny]

I don't know, their numbers are very similar and Lewis plays behind arguably the best DL in the NFL and plays in a 1 gap 3-4. Does he make more plays behind the LOS? Sure, but again the system allows him to. Obviously Lewis has 10 years of experience on the guy, but Ray has lost a step, IMO. Still one of the best but not quite what he was even just a couple of season's ago. I thought Lewis should have been the MVP Flacco's rookie season.

Fair point - there's no arguing Lewis is surrounded by a boatload of talent. And not just the linemen - Suggs is one of the best defensive players in the league this year.

Spikes should be back soon - and Mayo should be 100% healthy at this point. Hopefully we see that kind of consistency we're hoping for from Mayo soon, between those two factors.